Use of Defense Travel System To Be Mandatory The Defense Department plans to require military travelers to book reservations through the Defense Travel System, the newspaper Federal Times reported. A study of the much-criticized system, ordered by Congress, has endorsed continued use of DTS, the newspaper said. Last year two Republican senators threatened to cut off funding for the system because of complaints about its cost, accuracy and efficiency. The report by the nonprofit Institute for Defense Analyses, obtained by Federal Times, endorsed the Pentagon’s plans to improve DTS rather than scrap it. The system is operated by Northrop Grumman. Responding to complaints that the system is difficult to use and often does not display all available flights, DOD is preparing a “complete rework of the DTS reservation process,” the institute’s report said. Last year Sen. Norm Coleman, R-MN, chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, branded DTS “a failure and a waste of taxpayers’ money.” He said one travel agent told subcommittee staff that it takes a DOD employee thirty minutes to arrange a trip that a travel agent could book in five minutes. (SAA, 11/24/06) After studying the new report a spokesman for Coleman told Federal Times the senator will not attempt to kill DTS. A DOD spokesman said the department “will make DTS mandatory.” The department has argued that the centralized travel system will save millions, but the congressional investigators charged the savings were illusory.